Letter: It's time to make meaningful changes in schools

We need to do much more than "fortify" the schools. Yes, there has to be increased protection on the outside, but the entire culture and mind set and the way we teach our children much be changed.

Kids need to be taught it's not OK to bully -- not just with random assemblies -- but actually taught that the mean and hurtful things they do and say have consequences.

Kids need to be taught to treat each other with dignity and respect. There is too much "looking the other way" and making excuses like "I can't do more."

We need creative solutions to change the ways in which our kids interact with each other, with us, and with society as a whole. It's all of our responsibility -- teachers, parents, administrators. It's time to make meaningful changes.

Dionna Richardson, Brimfield

Want to leave your comments?

We need to stop calling everything “bullying.” It is not bullying if you tell the child he is wrong or that he has done something wrong. It is not bullying to tell a child that he is fat when he is fat. That is the truth and should be motivation to change. If he wants to remain fat then he has to learn to live with it. It is not bullying to wait until the child does something good to tell him good job instead of accepting poor performance.
It is bullying when you insist that the coach play a kid that is not any good just so he want feel bad. It is bullying the child that does play good. It bullying to give every child a B so that no one will feel dumb. It is bullying the ones that does the work and earn the B or higher. We all have to learn that we can do some things and can not do others.